2016 MLB awards thread

I notice today that Chris Sale leads the American League in WHIP at 1.02 and is fifth with a 4.77 K/BB. (Porcello is first at 5.55.)

Sale is having a nice season for a guy who doesn't know how to pitch very good.

 

Hendricks might be at the start of a Maddux-like stretch. If he was a fluke it would've showed by now.

 

Maddux? Greg or Mike?

 

That's the comparison that's being tossed around in Chicago right now. The .236 BABIP won't hold. But Baseball Reference has his FIP the last three years at 3.32, 3.36, 3.38. Is he a sub-2.00 ERA pitcher, long-term? Hell, no. But he's going to be good for a while, I think.

If Kluber and Hendricks with their respective Cy Young Awards, you will have two winners that were never in Baseball America's top 100 prospects.

 

I hope Showalter wins AL MOY.

 

Porcello goes eight strong last night, 4H, 1R ... BUT Red Sox lose 1-0 to drop him to 20-4. No winnering for that!

There are now eight American League pitchers between an ERA of 3.03 (Sale) and 3.24 (Hamels). Kluber has an OK-sized lead in ERA+ (156-146) and FIP (3.13-3.22), which I guess would make him the front-runner. But even allowing three runs in a start could take away that lead.

I think it's entirely foreseeable that Oct. 2 comes and there is no way to justify or argue against any of five or six candidates.

 

I think it's Sale's to lose right now, but it's very, very precarious. He's in the middle of a hot streak right now, but he's had bad stretches before.

 

Also, let's not forget David Price lurking on the perimeter of this thing. The narrative is that he sucks this year, but if he is lights out in his last few starts, it's not inconceivable to view him as the rightful best pitcher in the American League this year.

 

Why Sale? I wouldn't protest a vote for him or anything, but ninth in ERA+, fourth in FIP, fifth in Ks, sixth in K/BB ... it's a good profile, but I could build an equally good or better profile for others.

Kluber in those categories I mentioned: 1/1/4/10. Porcello: 2/6/10/1.

 

God, I hate ERA+ within a season. It seems a little much to me to start discounting ERAs based upon "ballpark effects." Ugh.

I say he's the leader in the clubhouse because if things continue this way, he has a high likelihood of leading the league in both IPs and ERA, which is a pretty nice 1-2 punch on the resume.

 

OK, but he is 0.09 ahead of fifth place in ERA as of now. Even if he holds that lead, without going all the way to ERA+, that difference is easily attributable to ballpark effect versus Cleveland, Boston and the Yankees (Tanaka). In all cases the multiyear numbers are substantially different as well as this year's.

 

I think we need to distinguish something: In this digression, I am talking about who will win the award. You are talking about who should.